The TLDR Details:
Location: Yacht Club, Club Level
Transportation: Mears Car to Hotel, DME from Hotel
Cast: 2 sets of Grandparents, Mrs. CORunner and DD(3 years)
Temps: Lowest 45 in AM and Highest 71 PM
Crowds: 5 out of 10
Average Wait When Not Using FP+: 20-30 minutes
Meals: Hollywood & Vine (Character Lunch), Tusker House (Character Lunch), Pizza in Italy, Le Cellier
Flight: Southwest w/ Early Bird
Trip complete, back in OH trying to remember why we were complaining about the high 40's when most mornings here and single digits or teens!
We booked this trip almost 9 months ago before they had released the 2015 prices and also betting on getting a 30-40% discount offer in October. When they released the October discount we found that the standard room we wanted wasn't available for the discount, but the club level was and the price was within $3 of what we would be paying for the standard room with no discount. Seemed like a no brainer as we already budgeted for that price.
We held back on the flight until October as well, booked nonstop from DAY to MCO and of course 7 days later Southwest did a fare sale on the flight. No worries, we just rebooked/changed the flight and got the difference as a flight credit. We also sprung for the early bird because the grandparents wanted to have seats together and don't travel frequently and were nervous about the non-assigned seating on Southwest.
Flight was uneventful. Got to MCO and upon landing had a text from Mears driver where our luggage would be and where he would be. Having never done Mears before it was pretty cool to get that information. Met the driver at baggage claim, he took grandma, Mrs. CORunner and our DD to the car to get her situated in a carseat, Grandpa and I got our bags and headed to the car. All told from disembarking the plane to leaving MCO it was about 15 minutes which was great because the other set of grandparents were already at the hotel.
Got to the YC and were met by the concierge at the front door. We had done online check in and had our bags with us which a bellboy promptly took and away we went upstairs. Check in was smooth, we had one small hitch and my mothers magic band was linked to my ticket. They sorted it out before we finished check in and we were off to the room which adjoined to my grandparents. Mrs. CORunner was worried about sharing a room but with a 3 year old and 4 adults the room was more than adequate. We also had the luxury of the concierge lounge and large balcony.
Having never stayed on the club level we made the mistake of ordering some snacks on garden grocer as we have done with previous trips. Looking back we should have waited until check in. Every morning there is a decent cold breakfast (cereal, breads, oatmeals), then the rest of the day is light snacks, drinks including soda/coffee/water with beer, wine and night cap drinks at night. Also the lounge has tables, couches and 2 televisions, one which is situated with small tables/chairs for kids. We definitely took advantage of the space in the evening before walking to Epcot for fireworks, giving our daughter some time to watch cartoons and unwind from the day. Another perk was the phone number we were given to text the concierge. Having not done the new FP+ we assumed we would just be able to pull a fast pass instead of getting the 'experiences' so it was nice just to text the concierge 'we would like to go here' and if they had one around the time we wanted we would go. We also had another meal planned but after seeing everyone get a little upset at a 7:30 dinner we just texted them to cancel the reservation and boom, done.
As I noted in my 50% done report I love the location the YC, BC and BW occupy! In addition to the buses, boats you have the option of just walking into 2 different parks. We only missed the Epcot fireworks on one night, every other night including catching the 8p fireworks at MK, then hoping the monorail to Epcot and walking to France we then saw the 9p there and were back in our room before 930. Also for any fitness buffs the loop around the 3 hotels is barren at 700a and around a mile if you want to get a walk/run in.
Parks: Construction was noticeable in the MK from the entrance and just past the castle. I think that the expanded walkways will be great in the future. Of all the parks MK was head and shoulders the busiest. Rides that before we could walk on (Peter Pan, HM, PoC) routinely had waits of 30 or more. But we concluded that it is the most kid friendly, has the most rides and the newest attractions (fantasyland, 7DMT).
Seven Dwarves Mine Train: I'll try and be positive but if you do not have a fastpass for this ride I would not wait 70 min+ for it. I think the Imagineers had limited real estate to construct a kid friendly roller coaster and this is the best they could do. It's short, not very fast and just has a bunch of rolling turns. If you ride the DME they actually show the ride in it's entirety. Just watch that video and go elsewhere.
Memento Mori: The HM shop is fantastic! Our daughter loves Halloween and when we asked if she wanted a 'scary face picture' she said yes! I don't want to spoil it, but the spirits aligned and we got our scary photo to hang in the hall on halloween, the experience was awesome.
AK had similar construction congestion but we only ever go for the safari, EE, Dinosaur and It's tough to be a bug. Neither of us have any real love for Avatar so not much to report there. The character dining at Tusker House was great, we had a late lunch and with the restaurant being less than 50% full Mickey, Goofy and Donald all got together spending over 15 minutes just interacting and playing with our DD. Definitely made her trip!
HS: The ears are definitely coming down, I heard a cast member joking that it is now the 'magic headband'. RnR was amazing and a great introduction for the one grandparent who had never been to WDW. ToT is also my personal favorite and we lucked into the random ride where you get almost 2 top to bottom drops. Crowd levels were moderate throughout the day, we were kicking ourselves that this is the first 'lazy trip' we've ever had where we didn't make the rope drop most mornings.
Epcot: Business as usual, I had to take grandpa 1 & 2 on mission space orange, if for nothing else than laughing at the constant 'YOU WILL GET MOTION SICKNESS' signs/cards everywhere. They loved the ride and after we walked into Ellen's Universe of Energy for a nice sit down break. Finally we also had a family inside joke running
'What do you call someone who goes stand by on TT?'
'A sucker!'
A FL friend and WDW regulat told me years ago that the singles line at TT is the way to go. we ended up doing the ride with 4 people in total and never waited. When I say never waited, we walked through the entire queue and were at the loading dock and one by one seated in 3 vehicles. This scenario happened twice. The second time through someone in line asked grandpa 1 if it was the VIP line. He said it was the singles line and 3 people jumped over and joined us, making the statement which stuck as a joke from then on.
Finally because there was no real reason to rush to the airport we set the DME from the hotel, had an uneventful trip to the airport and it is nice that they handle the bags at the hotel so you just walk into the airport and head to security. No delays getting home and using the free Wifi on the flight home Grandpa 2 who became an overnight WDW fan had us looking at the David's Vacation Club Rentals because if we go back and can't stay on the club level he really wants a kitchen and more space!
TIPS: These have probably been used ad nausea but
1. Go early, get outta bed and get to the parks. This was the first year we let ourselves 'sleep in' not worth fighting the crowds
2. Singles line at Test Track, learn it, use it, love it
3. Very low BTG, cheerleader, BBall tourney activity. But our last day there, Friday, there was a dance competition starting over the weekend and you saw the uptick of people
4. Character lunch over character breakfast. Usually we have done chef mickey. I have to say we enjoyed the lunchtime character meals more. I feel like we were less pushed through the meal and had more time with the characters and to enjoy eating.
Location: Yacht Club, Club Level
Transportation: Mears Car to Hotel, DME from Hotel
Cast: 2 sets of Grandparents, Mrs. CORunner and DD(3 years)
Temps: Lowest 45 in AM and Highest 71 PM
Crowds: 5 out of 10
Average Wait When Not Using FP+: 20-30 minutes
Meals: Hollywood & Vine (Character Lunch), Tusker House (Character Lunch), Pizza in Italy, Le Cellier
Flight: Southwest w/ Early Bird
Trip complete, back in OH trying to remember why we were complaining about the high 40's when most mornings here and single digits or teens!
We booked this trip almost 9 months ago before they had released the 2015 prices and also betting on getting a 30-40% discount offer in October. When they released the October discount we found that the standard room we wanted wasn't available for the discount, but the club level was and the price was within $3 of what we would be paying for the standard room with no discount. Seemed like a no brainer as we already budgeted for that price.
We held back on the flight until October as well, booked nonstop from DAY to MCO and of course 7 days later Southwest did a fare sale on the flight. No worries, we just rebooked/changed the flight and got the difference as a flight credit. We also sprung for the early bird because the grandparents wanted to have seats together and don't travel frequently and were nervous about the non-assigned seating on Southwest.
Flight was uneventful. Got to MCO and upon landing had a text from Mears driver where our luggage would be and where he would be. Having never done Mears before it was pretty cool to get that information. Met the driver at baggage claim, he took grandma, Mrs. CORunner and our DD to the car to get her situated in a carseat, Grandpa and I got our bags and headed to the car. All told from disembarking the plane to leaving MCO it was about 15 minutes which was great because the other set of grandparents were already at the hotel.
Got to the YC and were met by the concierge at the front door. We had done online check in and had our bags with us which a bellboy promptly took and away we went upstairs. Check in was smooth, we had one small hitch and my mothers magic band was linked to my ticket. They sorted it out before we finished check in and we were off to the room which adjoined to my grandparents. Mrs. CORunner was worried about sharing a room but with a 3 year old and 4 adults the room was more than adequate. We also had the luxury of the concierge lounge and large balcony.
Having never stayed on the club level we made the mistake of ordering some snacks on garden grocer as we have done with previous trips. Looking back we should have waited until check in. Every morning there is a decent cold breakfast (cereal, breads, oatmeals), then the rest of the day is light snacks, drinks including soda/coffee/water with beer, wine and night cap drinks at night. Also the lounge has tables, couches and 2 televisions, one which is situated with small tables/chairs for kids. We definitely took advantage of the space in the evening before walking to Epcot for fireworks, giving our daughter some time to watch cartoons and unwind from the day. Another perk was the phone number we were given to text the concierge. Having not done the new FP+ we assumed we would just be able to pull a fast pass instead of getting the 'experiences' so it was nice just to text the concierge 'we would like to go here' and if they had one around the time we wanted we would go. We also had another meal planned but after seeing everyone get a little upset at a 7:30 dinner we just texted them to cancel the reservation and boom, done.
As I noted in my 50% done report I love the location the YC, BC and BW occupy! In addition to the buses, boats you have the option of just walking into 2 different parks. We only missed the Epcot fireworks on one night, every other night including catching the 8p fireworks at MK, then hoping the monorail to Epcot and walking to France we then saw the 9p there and were back in our room before 930. Also for any fitness buffs the loop around the 3 hotels is barren at 700a and around a mile if you want to get a walk/run in.
Parks: Construction was noticeable in the MK from the entrance and just past the castle. I think that the expanded walkways will be great in the future. Of all the parks MK was head and shoulders the busiest. Rides that before we could walk on (Peter Pan, HM, PoC) routinely had waits of 30 or more. But we concluded that it is the most kid friendly, has the most rides and the newest attractions (fantasyland, 7DMT).
Seven Dwarves Mine Train: I'll try and be positive but if you do not have a fastpass for this ride I would not wait 70 min+ for it. I think the Imagineers had limited real estate to construct a kid friendly roller coaster and this is the best they could do. It's short, not very fast and just has a bunch of rolling turns. If you ride the DME they actually show the ride in it's entirety. Just watch that video and go elsewhere.
Memento Mori: The HM shop is fantastic! Our daughter loves Halloween and when we asked if she wanted a 'scary face picture' she said yes! I don't want to spoil it, but the spirits aligned and we got our scary photo to hang in the hall on halloween, the experience was awesome.
AK had similar construction congestion but we only ever go for the safari, EE, Dinosaur and It's tough to be a bug. Neither of us have any real love for Avatar so not much to report there. The character dining at Tusker House was great, we had a late lunch and with the restaurant being less than 50% full Mickey, Goofy and Donald all got together spending over 15 minutes just interacting and playing with our DD. Definitely made her trip!
HS: The ears are definitely coming down, I heard a cast member joking that it is now the 'magic headband'. RnR was amazing and a great introduction for the one grandparent who had never been to WDW. ToT is also my personal favorite and we lucked into the random ride where you get almost 2 top to bottom drops. Crowd levels were moderate throughout the day, we were kicking ourselves that this is the first 'lazy trip' we've ever had where we didn't make the rope drop most mornings.
Epcot: Business as usual, I had to take grandpa 1 & 2 on mission space orange, if for nothing else than laughing at the constant 'YOU WILL GET MOTION SICKNESS' signs/cards everywhere. They loved the ride and after we walked into Ellen's Universe of Energy for a nice sit down break. Finally we also had a family inside joke running
'What do you call someone who goes stand by on TT?'
'A sucker!'
A FL friend and WDW regulat told me years ago that the singles line at TT is the way to go. we ended up doing the ride with 4 people in total and never waited. When I say never waited, we walked through the entire queue and were at the loading dock and one by one seated in 3 vehicles. This scenario happened twice. The second time through someone in line asked grandpa 1 if it was the VIP line. He said it was the singles line and 3 people jumped over and joined us, making the statement which stuck as a joke from then on.
Finally because there was no real reason to rush to the airport we set the DME from the hotel, had an uneventful trip to the airport and it is nice that they handle the bags at the hotel so you just walk into the airport and head to security. No delays getting home and using the free Wifi on the flight home Grandpa 2 who became an overnight WDW fan had us looking at the David's Vacation Club Rentals because if we go back and can't stay on the club level he really wants a kitchen and more space!
TIPS: These have probably been used ad nausea but
1. Go early, get outta bed and get to the parks. This was the first year we let ourselves 'sleep in' not worth fighting the crowds
2. Singles line at Test Track, learn it, use it, love it
3. Very low BTG, cheerleader, BBall tourney activity. But our last day there, Friday, there was a dance competition starting over the weekend and you saw the uptick of people
4. Character lunch over character breakfast. Usually we have done chef mickey. I have to say we enjoyed the lunchtime character meals more. I feel like we were less pushed through the meal and had more time with the characters and to enjoy eating.
